Sky Curtain: The opening scene explains the four major cases of the Ming Dynasty plus the early Ming

When the words "Let the North descend into chaos" appeared on the sky, a chill even more biting than the flames of war in the Southeast instantly enveloped all of time and space.

If instigating rebellion in the southeast was to cover up corruption, it was a variation of "the dragon burning the granary."

So, what does it mean to actively provoke a war with the Oirat, the overlord of the northern grasslands?

This means they are colluding with the enemy!

It means treason!

"No...no way? This is impossible! No matter how greedy they are, they wouldn't stoop to treason, would they? That's a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of their family!"

"You're too naive! When profits reach 300%, capital will commit any crime, even risking being hanged! For the Ming Dynasty's civil service, preserving the land and power they seized was their greatest profit!"

"I get it! The Southeast Rebellion was Plan A, and now that Plan A has failed, they're going to activate Plan B! Plan B is... letting the wolf into the house!"

"They've gone mad! These scholars have truly gone mad! Are they willing to drag the entire nation down with them just to avoid the emperor's investigation?!"

The viewers in the modern live broadcast room were utterly shocked by the madness and wickedness of this group of ancient civil officials.

In the Ming Dynasty era, from Zhu Yuanzhang to Zhu Qizhen, every emperor's face turned ashen.

They can tolerate their officials being corrupt, they can tolerate their officials forming cliques, but they absolutely cannot tolerate—betrayal!

Colluding with foreign enemies and betraying national interests—this is touching the most unforgivable bottom line in the heart of an emperor!

No wonder Judi Jun, a descendant of the Khazars, said that the Khazars were determined to destroy China. It turns out that there was a group of traitors colluding with them. No wonder!

Above the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice seemed to come from the deepest hell, cold and sinister.

"March of the fourteenth year of the Zhengtong reign."

"Just as the war in the south had just ended, and Zhu Qizhen's investigative net was tightening."

"One after another, swift horses began to traverse the deep canyons of Juyong Pass."

"Letters plotting famous conspiracies traveled back and forth between Beijing, Datong, and Xuanfu."

"A fierce wind is gathering, about to sweep across the northern grasslands. The dark clouds are filled with a nauseating stench of blood."

"A shocking conspiracy to bury the Ming emperor and his 500,000 elite troops has truly taken shape!"

A huge network of relationships emerges in the image.

At the heart of the network are two massive nodes: the "civil service group" and the "border garrison generals."

And what drives all of this are two most primal forces.

"—Greed for immense wealth and power!"

"—And, a death threat from that young emperor's anti-corruption campaign!"

Zhu Dijun began to demonstrate, one by one, the border defense system that had long since rotted to the core.

"First, the collapse of the military-agricultural colony system!"

"After the Zhengtong era, the generals of the border towns 'extensively acquired estates and privately employed troops,' and the estates they seized were often measured in tens of thousands of acres! The soldiers they enslaved numbered as many as a thousand! This led to 'soldier resentment and lamentation, and military administration deteriorated'! The soldiers were no longer the soldiers of the state, but rather the private slaves of the generals!"

"Secondly, systemic corruption!"

"In the third year of the Zhengtong reign, Mu Su, the Vice Commander of the Xining Garrison, colluded with Li Heng, the Garrison Commander, to embezzle 8,110 shi of grain!"

"The border troops in Shanxi went for twenty-seven consecutive months without receiving a single penny of salary or a single grain of rice in rations! The soldiers were on the verge of mutiny!"

"Those nobles, military officers, and eunuchs treated the nation's granaries as their own, forming a massive network of corruption!"

"Third, and most directly, evidence—arson to destroy evidence!"

Zhu Dijun's voice suddenly turned sharp!

"Starting from the tenth year of the Zhengtong reign, Zhu Qizhen ordered a nationwide investigation of granaries. What were the results?"

"The result was that inspectors died wave after wave, and wherever the country's granaries were investigated, they were burned down!"

On the sky, fire records from the "Treatise on the Five Elements" in the History of Ming were clearly listed, a shocking sight!

"On the day of Jia-Shen in the fifth month of the tenth year of the Zhengtong reign (1444), a great fire broke out at the Zhongyi Weihou Granary!"

"On the day of Gui Si in the fifth month of the tenth year of the Zhengtong reign (1443), a great fire broke out at the Right Guard Granary in Tongzhou!"

"On the day of Guiyou in the second month of the thirteenth year of the Zhengtong reign (1444), a great fire broke out at the Zhongyi Qianwei granary!"

"Even the imperial court was so overwhelmed by these successive 'accidents' that they actually sent people to 'pray to the fire dragon and the Grand Duke Jupiter to ward off evil'! My friends, isn't that ridiculous? What they were going to worship wasn't the fire dragon, but a group of corrupt officials with evil spirits in their hearts!"

"The fire destroyed the account books and the evidence, but it couldn't extinguish the fear in the hearts of the civil service and the border generals!"

"Because the emperor didn't stop!"

"The rebellion in the southeast has been quelled; the score in the south will be settled sooner or later!"

"They knew very well that once Wang Ji and Chen Mao's army returned to the capital in triumph, the young emperor, who couldn't tolerate any wrongdoing, would next investigate their messy affairs in the north!"

"There's no way to retreat!"

"Their only way to survive is to ensure the emperor never returns!"

"Let that soon-to-be-returning southern army have no use for its war!"

"Let a bigger war wash away all the evidence!"

"So they turned their attention to the most ferocious wolf on the grasslands—the Tatar!"

"A perfect plan took shape in their minds."

"The first step is to exaggerate the enemy's strength and lure the emperor into personally leading the expedition!"

"The second step is to collude with an inside agent to cut off the army's food supply!"

"The third step is to provide false intelligence, luring the emperor and his army into a pre-set encirclement!"

"The fourth step is to defect in the face of battle, or to passively avoid combat, ensuring the complete defeat of the Ming army!"

"The ultimate goal is not to defeat the Ming Dynasty, but..."

"—Kill your lord!"